When I (Leeman - hi hi hi!) was a mechanically inept fledgling cyclecommuter in my home state of Maine, paying somebody else to work on my turds was simply not an option (Sorry, Percy. I was making like seven bucks an hour). At the time, when I looked at a bike, I saw one object - a bike. How do you tell what's wrong with something when you can't identify where one part ends and the next begins? For me (and I always advise anyone who is new to cycling to do the same) giving my bike a good, thorough cleaning was what broke the ice, and enabled me to see the individual components of my machine. After this, anda few awkward conversations at my local bike shops, I knew enough of the terminology to turn myself loose on the internet, where I discovered where to find the answer to any bike problem I would have for the next several years. SheldonBrown.com taught me everything I needed to know to keep my old junkers on the road, and eventually to lighten them up and/or make them work (sorta) with more modern, reliable equipment. I also gained a lot from Sheldon's weirdly sincere, pragmatic, and well developed personal style, his humor, and his complete disregard for conventions, norms, and to a degree, aesthetics.

Savage Blush

https://thesavageblush.bandcamp.com/ When Chewbecca's not here at the shop wrenching on bikes, or working as an interpreter , she's probably either shredding her guitar on a stage somewhere, or in her mobile studio, working on another rowdy, crashy, strongly 1960's garage rock influenced song. Be sure to see them live, andgo to Bandcamp, buy one of their albums, and try to turn your miserable, musicless life around, you degenerate scum!

Pizza

If it were'nt for pizza, I (Leeman still, hi!) would probably have a physique much like Ryan Gosling (maybe, why not? It's the internet, I say what I want), but what would be the point? Tell me, what would be the point of looking good without a shirt, but living in a world with no pizza? You may not know this, but if you're also a member of the Pizza Gut Acceptance Club, you can have piping hot, fresh zza delivered to your downtown home or office via a bicycle maintained by Oh, Wheelie?, by calling (303) 297-3464. BTW, Sliceworks does not pay us to namecheck them, we do it cuz we want to.

Cartridge bearings

Cartridge bearings need little if any maintenance, almost never wear out, and when they do (normally due to extremely poor adjustment) it generally takes ten minutes and twenty bucks worth of parts to replace them. They should at least be in the hubs of most production bikes in this day and age (Lambert/Viscount were using them back in the 70's, and I have some of their hubs that spin smoothly after 40 years of abuse), as wheel failure is the largest common expense an owner will encounter over the lifespan of a bike, but for some reason much of the industry is slow to adopt this feature. There's nothing wrong with high quality loose-ball bearing hubs (shimano 105 being probably the most affordable decent quality ones), but they must be properly maintained, and only the most dedicated cyclists can be trusted to do so.

HATE

Welsh Corgis

Sorry, but Corgis are just the wrong shape for a dog. Any dog you have to crouch to pet is automatically on probation here, but Corgis are a little too long, and a little too low to meet our standards. Plus, their bizarrely outsized heads with perpetual idiotic grins just don't sit well with us. Welsh Corgis - No. Same goes for Munchkin Cats.